In January 2015, ControlTrends interviewed Paul Rauker, VP of Systems and Controls, Daikin Applied, on the ground floor of the 2015 AHR Show. Paul expertly reviewed the features of Daikin’s latest Intelligent Equipment, the Rebel RTU — which was the first IoT HVAC RTU. Now, with Diakin’s minority stake acquisition of Riptide IO. Daikin is the first equipment manufacturer to introduce the industry’s first, true cloud-based technology platform for HVAC equipment — that truly harnesses the IoT! Here’s the rest of the story:

DAIKIN APPLIED ACQUIRES MINORITY STAKE IN CLOUD-BASED BUILDING AUTOMATION COMPANY

Investment extends company’s leadership in IoT in its drive toward offering total building efficiency

MINNEAPOLIS – November 20, 2015 –– Daikin Applied Americas announced today it is acquiring a minority ownership stake in Riptide IO, a California-based software company that focuses on helping building owners connect, manage and automate building equipment by bringing the full benefit of the Internet of Things (IoT) to commercial buildings. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

Riptide IO has been a strategic partner to Daikin Applied in the development of Daikin Intelligent Equipment™, the industry’s first, true cloud-based technology platform for HVAC equipment that harnesses the IoT. The current Riptide IO leadership team will continue to drive the company’s strategy and day-to-day operations. Daikin Applied President and CEO, Michael Schwartz, will join the Riptide IO board of directors.

“We are forging the path to transform the HVAC industry, driving beyond next level efficiency and innovating for total building solutions,” said Schwartz. “This move is a terrific pivot point for us and for the industry as we continue to explore how to help building owners get to new levels of efficiency when they unlock the power of IoT.”

This move affirms Daikin Applied’s investment in Intelligent Equipment and the market’s response to the platform. Daikin’s technology is helping building owners acquire and leverage useful and actionable analytics to deliver comfort to visitors and occupants with the most cost-effective and sustainable use of energy. “We are working with the Riptide IO team on strategies that will further leverage the technology and software in meaningful ways to drive growth in mid-market building automation. We’re confident this is the team to create a unique building experience with advanced technology,” Schwartz added.

Riptide IO brings experience that includes working with marketing-leading, customer-focused organizations that prioritize sustainability and energy efficiency, including several Fortune 100 companies. The Riptide IO team has a track record of bringing cloud-based automation to small buildings that translates to lower complexity and focuses on making it easy for customers to create smarter buildings and a better run business.

“We’re thrilled to deepen our relationship with Daikin Applied because we’ve seen a clear commitment on their part to look at the market differently than other HVAC companies,” said Mike Franco, CEO and co-founder, Riptide IO. “As we’ve partnered over the last two years, we believe, as does Daikin Applied, that there is significant potential in moving beyond the HVAC arena to the total building offering. We’re excited to be aligned as we see them as an important, long-term partner in accelerating how IoT will transform the commercial building experience.”

About Riptide IO: Founded in late 2012, Riptide IO is focused on making it easy to create smarter buildings and a better run business. Its mission is to give visibility and control over brick & mortar operations without being onsite. Easy, affordable, and most importantly, works with the equipment building owners already have. Riptide IO is based in Santa Barbara, CA, with development offices in Bangalore, India.

About Daikin Applied: Daikin Applied, a member of Daikin Industries, Ltd, designs and manufactures technologically advanced commercial HVAC systems for customers around the world. Customers turn to Daikin with confidence that they will experience outstanding performance, reliability and energy efficiency. Daikin Applied equipment, solutions and services are sold through a global network of dedicated sales, service, and parts offices. For more information or the name of your local Daikin Applied representative, call 800-432-1342, or visit www.DaikinApplied.com.

KMC Controls, a leader in building automation systems, today announced its participation in the Dell Annual Analyst Conference in Austin, Texas from May 27th through May 29th. The Dell team invited KMC’s Richard Newberry and Erich Kreuter as strategic envoys to the high-profile event.

Dell’s annual conference offers analysts the opportunity and access to engage with Dell customers, partners and senior Dell executives, as well as attend focused breakout sessions and a technology showcase.

Richard Newberry, Strategic Advisor to KMC’s Board of Directors, commented that, “…this brings KMC’s visibility in our work with Dell to a new level and allows us to convey our message and our leadership in Internet of Things (IoT) to a key audience of strategic partners, analysts, investors, and technology leaders. We are honored to be invited to participate in such an exciting event, and the coming year holds great promise as we bring our solutions to market. Attendance at the conference validates the progress that we have made and gives us a chance to get more people interested in the work that’s being done.”

Dell and KMC are firmly committed to bringing the power of the Internet of Things to building automation by enabling secure, timely access and control of building systems and data to building owners and property managers.

KMC is partnering with Dell and Intel® in developing a complete IoT platform for building automation that forms an end-to-end solution, from sensors and controllers (edge devices) to cloud-based remote management applications. Remote visualization and control are enabled via a cloud-hosted, mobile application based architecture with secure data access.
KMC will be exhibiting its new technology as a platinum-level sponsor at two major upcoming events:
Cochrane Supply Niagara Summit from June 4th through June 5th, 2015 in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
Realcomm IBCon from June 9th through June 10th, 2015 in San Antonio, Texas

Parties interested in learning more or speaking with the development team may contact KMC Controls at www.kmccontrols.com.

About Panoramic Power: Panoramic Power is the leading provider of circuit level energy management solutions – enabling businesses to optimize their energy consumption, improve operational efficiency and generate income through load response programs. Using its innovative and affordable circuit-level cloud-base analytics solution, companies across a wide range of retail and commercial industries gain insight into their energy usage and are able to optimize operations, processes and maintenance resources. For more information, visit www.panpwr.com

About Connexx Energy: Established in 2010 as a subsidiary of Lynxspring, Inc., Connexx Energy is a leading developer and implementer of ‘last mile’ solutions for Smart Grid and Smart Building technologies. Connexx Energy has significant knowledge, expertise and relationships in both building automation systems and energy management systems, which enable it to create cost effective and highly scalable connectivity solutions in four key strategic areas, Energy Interoperability, Management and Control, Automatic Demand Response and Cyber Protection. For more information, visit www.connexxenergy.com

The two companies will combine Panoramic Power’s innovative circuit level energy management solution with Connexx Energy’s CONNEXXION™ energy data platform. This approach delivers complete energy interoperability, management and control, automatic demand response and actionable data and analytics into a single system that manages energy data across the building enterprise within a cyber-secured environment.

The joint solution brings together device level energy management technology, an energy data warehouse and analytics engine framework that streamlines the secure integration and creation of energy data and actionable insights into the corporate business intelligence layer. This will enable REIT companies to improve efficiencies and lower total cost of ownership by providing device level energy visibility and actionable information while integrating existing energy management solutions and sending all energy data through one, integrated platform.

“The accuracy and quality of the data available from our joint solution is far superior to what has been available to REIT companies in the past. We are eliminating multiple, disparate energy solutions that organizations must manage by integrating all energy data into one dashboard,” said Yaniv Vardi, CEO of Panoramic Power. “Panoramic Power’s wireless device level data, coupled with the Connexx Energy’s CONNEXXION energy management platform finally enables REIT companies to streamline data and provide them with unmatched visibility into their entire energy landscape for a more cost effective operation.”

“Connexx Energy is committed to working-hand-in-hand with complementary technology providers in order to deliver cost effective and highly scalable energy management solutions,” said Anno Scholten, president of Connexx Energy. “Our goal is to offer our clients the most comprehensive technology needed to not only reduce and control energy consumption, but also to manage and report on energy usage in the most effective way. Our joint solution with Panoramic Power delivers REIT companies the first cost effective energy efficiency solution that easily integrates with other energy management solutions, allowing them to import all energy data through a single platform.”

The ControlTrends Awards Committee thanks CGNA’s Mike Sackett and Jim Hayman for their sponsorship of the 2013 ControlTrends Awards. Controls Group North America (CGNA) is the leading network of Distributor Members and Manufacturer Preferred Vendors in the HVAC/R industry.

CGNA provides innovative solutions and takes a progressive approach to evolving your business. Through committees, conferences, webinars, and networking opportunities, CGNA impacts our Members’ and Preferred Vendors’ bottom line by increasing their market share. CGNA works to challenge our Members and Preferred Vendors with business ideas and opportunities beyond the boundaries of their current business model. Members and Preferred Vendors work together in the CGNA network to accomplish what they cannot do alone.

Distributors and manufacturers partner with CGNA to:
• Understand their target audience and effectively promote their products with our marketing.
• Increase their market share while making their business stand out with our cutting-edge technology.
• Receive the right resources they need to grow their business with our training and education.
• Get and stay connected with the top professionals in the HVAC/R industry with our networking.
• Establish unique relationships for increased gross profits with our unified buying power.

Demand Response and Open ADR presentation with Anno Scholten, President of Connex Energy, Inc. and Bruce Stimpson, VP/CIO at Lynxspring. Two industry experts discuss the energy business. Not to be confused with energy efficiency, Demand Response is a simple concept where a utility or Independent System Operator (ISO) pays an end-customer not to use energy at a peak time. 95% of Automatic Demand Response is still done manually!

This excerpt from SAS Visual Analytics explains in great detail how Data Visualization is becoming an increasingly important component of analytics in the age of big data:

“Big data is set to offer companies tremendous insight. But with terabytes and petabytes of data pouring in to organizations today, traditional architectures and infrastructures are not up to the challenge. IT teams are burdened with ever-growing requests for data, ad hoc analyses and one-off reports. Decision makers become frustrated because it takes hours or days to get answers to questions, if at all. More users are expecting self-service access to information in a form they can easily understand and share with others. [Read more…]

From estimation to installation, Honeywell’s new Fast Track program helps you keep projects on time and under budget. This easy-to-use project management and product configuration tool can help you turn estimates into orders while reducing application engineering, delivery and installation time.

More Orange News. Last week, ControlTrends blogged that Belimo Group’s 2012 sales were up 6.9% (Swiss francs), with sales in the Americas up 10.8%. The big Orange continues to be on the move! A recent visit to Belimo’s facility in Danbury, Connecticut, revealed that Belimo is investing in the city of Danbury’s future as well as their own, by building a new home minutes away from their existing facility. Great news for the local economy and the future of Belimo.

The ControlTrends Community would like to recognize the significance and importance of ASHRAE and all of its members and give ASHRAE’s long and prolific history some well warranted attention.

We’re not proposing to petition Washington, DC, for a “HUG YOUR ENGINEER DAY” or anything, but it would be a good idea to reflect for a moment, to realize and put into perspective, just how important ASHRAE has been, and continues to be, in our cultural and economic development as a country and society, and how we in the HVAC Industry, in particular, benefit directly and indirectly from the collective efforts, longstanding professional bearing, and applied ASHRAE wisdom everyday. This blog is the first of ControlTrends’ ASHRAE series. [Read more…]

Over the years Control Trends has given you a look at various manufactures of controls and their products. I came across this video the other day that is quite unique in it’s own rite. And you know, it’s time to give Siemens some good old Control Trends Love… We know them… we sell them now let’s look into Siemens a little deeper.

In the HVAC world Siemens supplies Thermostats, Sensors, Controllers, Valves, Damper Actuators, VFDs, Switches and Realys, and so much more. In the future I will be bringing to you (being an old boiler guy) a look at the Siemens controls that deal with the boiler side of our industry. But for now enjoy the “primer” and let’s give Siemens the love they deserve.